While not every financial need calls for a loan, it can be helpful in some situations.
If you’re looking to get one, our choices for the best personal loans in Ireland can fund you for a variety of purposes, from medical expenses to home improvements.
Just remember, though—loans are supposed to provide financial backup, not bury you further in debt. Ahead, we also tackled reasons to get and not get a loan, among other info, including factors to consider when choosing the right loan.
But first, let’s discuss our picks’ interest rates.
Loan Interest Rates in Ireland
The following rates are just to give you an idea of your loan options. These numbers may be subject to change and dependent on your credit profile.
For this reason, you’ll need to contact our featured lenders to give you the exact rates for your loan of choice.
Note: APR stands for annual percentage rate.
| LENDER | LOAN AMOUNT | INTEREST | APR |
| Avant Money | €5,000 – €9,999 €10,000 – €19,999 €20,000 – €39,999 €40,000 – €75,000 | 10.7% – 18.3% 9.2% – 15.9% 5.9% – 13.9% 5.9% – 13.1% | 11.2% – 19.9% 9.6% – 17.1% 6.1% – 14.8% 6.1% – 13.9% |
| KBC Bank Ireland | €5,000 – €9,999 €10,000 – €50,000 | 9.56% 7.07% | 9.99% 7.30% |
| Bank of Ireland | €2,000 – €9,999 €10,000 – €19,999 €20,000 – €65,000 | 8.25% 7.3% 6.6% | 8.5% 7.5% 6.8% |
| AIB | Need to contact | 8.65% | 8.95% |
| An Post | €5,000 – €7,499 €7,500 – €14,999 €15,000 – €19,999 €20,000+ | 9.9% – 15.4% 8.4% – 15.4% 7.0% – 14.4% 5.7% -13.9% | 10.4% -16.5% 8.7% -16.5% 7.2% -15.4% 5.9% -14.8% |
The Best Personal Loans in Ireland
Finally, here are our top picks for Ireland’s best personal loans!
1. Avant Money
| SERVICES | Mortgages, personal loans, and credit cards |
| WEBSITE | https://www.avantmoney.ie/ |
| ADDRESS | Dublin Road, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim |
| CONTACT DETAILS | 0818 409 511 |
| OPERATING HOURS | 8:00 am to 8:00 pm (Monday – Friday) 8:00 am to 2:00 pm (Saturday) |
First known as MBNA and then Avantcard, consumer finance company Avant Money has been providing credit products in the country since 1997. It’s under the company Bakinter, a bank based in Spain.
Avant Money offers personal loans for a variety of purposes, from funding a car to a holiday.
It boasts of offering the lowest annual percentage rate (APR) of 6.1% for a loan amount of €20,000 with a tenure of 5 years. Of course, this is still subject to a number of factors such as credit score.
Regardless of what purpose, you can borrow from €5,000 to €75,000. However, what’s dependent on the purpose of your loan is the loan term. Avant Money allows up to 7 years to repay loans for car, education, and wedding purposes.
For home improvements to refinancing, they allow a maximum of 10 years; for funeral and medical expenses, 3 years; for insurance, 1 year; and for holidays, 2 years.
You can apply for a loan online. Moreover, there are no early repayment fees. Meaning, you won’t be charged if you decide to pay off your loan partially or fully earlier than the specified loan term.
Unfortunately, they don’t offer personal loans for the following purposes: business, home purchase, and investments.
Pros
- No early repayment fees
- Awarded as best rewards programme in Ireland (credit card)
- Repayment term can be in months
- Maximum loan amount is €75,000
Cons
- No loans for business, home purchase, and investment purposes
- Loans team is unavailable on Sundays
Customer Reviews
One of Avant Money’s clients has been theirs for more than a decade. Find out what she had to say:
“Have been a customer for over 15 years this company is exceptional, their staff in Carrick on suir are courteous, helpful and always patient and polite, could give lessons to other larger corporations, well done. Patience on both sides in the Time of Covid goes a long way.” -Monica Carty
2. KBC Bank Ireland
| SERVICES | Banking, savings, investments, pensions, insurance, borrowings, and business |
| WEBSITE | https://www.kbc.ie/ |
| ADDRESS | Sandwith Street, Dublin 2 |
| CONTACT DETAILS | 1800 93 92 44 |
| OPERATING HOURS | 8:00 am to 11:00 pm (Monday – Sunday) |
KBC Bank Ireland offers personal loans as well as car and home improvement loans. While each loan is explained on a different page on KBC’s website, there’s not much difference among the three.
All three loan amounts range from €5,000 to €50,000 with a loan term of 1 to 5 years.
One of the perks of obtaining a loan from KBC is that they offer a loan discount for KBC current account holders. This is equivalent to a 1% discount on the APR of their standard personal loan rate.
To avail of this discount, you’ll need to repay your loan from your KBC current account by direct debit. Otherwise, you will lose the discount.
Moreover, KBC also has no setup or early repayment charges. However, note that they won’t charge you if you pay early only if the total amount repaid is less than €10,000.
Meanwhile, their social media and customer service hotline is open for 7 days so you can contact them even on weekends.
And if you have a concern you’d like to address face to face, KBC has several ‘hubs’ across the country, the majority of which are located in Dublin. You can just pop in even without an appointment.
Unfortunately, as we stated earlier, KBC’s maximum loan amount is only up to €50,000. Their maximum loan term is also only up to 5 years.
They do give up to 10 years for home improvements and other purposes. However, you’ll need to contact them to know more about what these other purposes are.
Pros
- No setup charges
- No early repayment charges for less than €10,000
- 7-day social media and hotline service
- Multiple hubs across Ireland
- Offers loan discount
Cons
- Maximum loan amount is €50,000
- Need to contact to know what other loan purposes have 5+ years
Customer Reviews
These two KBC clients seemed happy with their services:
“Great bank. Have all my accounts with them since danske left including current acc, mortgage, loan, credit card. App is great too. No complaints here.” -Hilary
“I opened 2 accounts with KBC in Stillorgan a few years ago. I found all members of staff in hub very helpful especially Catherine Griffin. She is very professional financial advisor, friendly and delivered excellent service in providing information and good advice on KBC products and managing my accounts.” -Jill Gibson Holman
3. Bank of Ireland
| SERVICES | Mortgages, loans, credit cards, current accounts, savings accounts, international payments, insurance, protection, pensions, and investments |
| WEBSITE | https://www.bankofireland.com/ |
| ADDRESS | 40 Mespil Road, Dublin 4 |
| CONTACT DETAILS | + 353 1 661 5933 |
| OPERATING HOURS | Webchat service: 9:15 am to 4:30 pm (Monday – Friday) Social media team: 8:00 am to 8:00 pm (Monday – Sunday) WhatsApp: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm (Monday – Friday) |
You’re most probably familiar with the Bank of Ireland (BOI) as this bank was established way back in 1783 by the Royal Charter.
BOI offers a variety of loans—personal, home improvement, car, student loans, among others. Except for their student, graduate, and postgraduate loans, all of their loans have an amount of €2,000 to €65,000.
Meanwhile, you can borrow up to €5,000 and €14,000 for their student and postgraduate loans, respectively. €2,000 to €5,000 is the amount they offer for their graduate loan.
Concerning loan terms, their home and green home improvement loans are up to 7 years. All the rest of BOI’s loans are payable for up to 5 years.
Moreover, BOI offers the option to clear loans early to pay less interest (all loans, except student, graduate, and postgraduate).
Borrowers can also opt to defer their first three months’ repayments (first 12 months for postgraduate loans). However, the downside of this option is that you’ll be paying more interest over the loan term.
There’s also no need to have any savings with BOI to avail of a loan, so you don’t need to open an account with them first if you don’t have one yet.
Moreover, clients can apply online, by phone, or in your branch of choice. BOI has multiple branches in Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Donegal, Dublin, and more.
On weekends, it’s their social media team that’s available. Nevertheless, if your situation is urgent, their emergency hotline is available 24/7.
Pros
- Has 24/7 emergency hotline service
- Multiple branches
- Can defer first 3 months payment
- Can repay earlier for less interest
- Social media team is available 7 days
Cons
- Maximum loan term is only 5 and 7 years
- Only BOI customers can apply online
- Maximum loan amount is only €65,000
4. AIB
| SERVICES | Loans, current accounts, insurance, mortgages, investments, credit cards, pensions, and savings & deposits |
| WEBSITE | https://aib.ie/ |
| ADDRESS | 10 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 |
| CONTACT DETAILS | +353 1 6600311 |
| OPERATING HOURS | Head office: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Social media customer support: 9:00 am to 8:00 pm (Monday – Friday) 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (Saturday – Sunday) |
Allied Irish Banks or AIB operates on a large scale in the country, having over 200 branches. Hence, you can easily find a branch near you, but most of their branches are concentrated in Dublin.
They have a range of loans from personal to student loans. Clients can avail of loans (for personal, car, and home improvement loans) online from €1,000 to €30,000, but you need to be an existing AIB customer to do this.
Otherwise, you’ll need to apply by phone or in a branch. Also, if you’re borrowing between €30,000 to €50,000, it doesn’t matter if you’re an existing customer or not—you’ll need to request a callback.
And for amounts between €50,000 and €75,000, you’ll need to call them on this number: 1890 724 724. Loan terms are up to 5 years, but they offer up to 10 years for some home improvement loans.
Also, note that their loan interests are variable. Meaning, the interest may go higher or lower throughout your credit agreement.
So, while your repayment amount stays the same, you may end up paying longer than your specified loan term (if your interest goes up) or paying off your loan earlier than your loan term (if your interest goes down).
Meanwhile, AIB has a flexible repayment schedule. In other words, you can choose to pay weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. They also offer no restrictions on what you can use the loan for (except if you’re taking out a green personal loan).
Plus, they offer a repayment holiday or a chance to ask for a repayment break at a specific time every year. On the flip side, you can’t do this on a whim. This is only allowed if you request this at the time you apply.
Pros
- Over 200 branches nationwide
- Offers maximum loan amount of €75,000
- Flexible repayment schedule
- No restrictions on money use
- No penalties for early repayments
- Offers repayment holiday
Cons
- Non-AIB clients can’t apply online
- Only up to €30,000 for online loans
Customer Reviews
Another long-time customer, AIB’s client below has been theirs for two decades. Read more of what she had to say:
“I have been a customer for 20 years, have had a couple of standards bank accounts (current, savings etc) and also my mortgage account. I have actually always found AIB excellent, and can’t believe most of the reviews. I have had fee free banking as a student unlike my previous bank which took over £60 (yes it was that long ago) from my account a year. I get a great rate with a low loan to value green mortgage. Customer service both in branch (pre corona) and on the phone is very helpful, though the menus to access on the phone be a bit tedious. Great website, apps including the mortgage application one. Have recommend previously to people arriving in Ireland.” -Aoife Flood
5. An Post
| SERVICES | Post and parcels, money, insurance, mobile, green hub, and government services |
| WEBSITE | https://www.anpost.com/ |
| ADDRESS | Loans address: PO Box 25, Dublin Road, Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim. |
| CONTACT DETAILS | Loans customer service: 0818 205 410 |
An Post is a commercial organisation that delivers postal, distribution and financial services, including agency services for some government departments and commercial bodies.
It boasts of having an APR that starts at 5.9% for loans €20,000 and above.
An Post’s loan purposes include car, holiday, education, wedding, home improvements, insurance, among others. You can borrow as much as €75,000 with loan terms up to 10 years.
For insurance, they allow 1 year; for holiday, 2 years; for cosmetic/dental/medical and funeral expenses, 3 years; for vehicle, education, wedding, home improvements and refinancing worth less than €20,000, 7 years; and for home improvements and refinance worth more than €20,000, 10 years.
The good thing about An Post is that apparently, regardless of the amount, you can apply for a loan online. There are also no setup and early repayment charges.
Note also that their personal loan interest rates are fixed. Meaning, whatever your loan interest is at the start of your loan term, it will remain the same throughout the duration of your loan.
Pros
- No setup and early repayment charges
- Maximum loan amount is €75,000
- Online application regardless of loan amount
Cons
- No joint applications
- No loans for business, home purchase, and investment purposes
Customer Reviews
One of An Post’s clients below comments positively on their customer service:
“I had my query handled by a customer care agent called Marguerite. She was excellent. Her approach and demeanor were friendly and professional. She was extremely helpful and sorted my issue in a prompt and timely manner. She did an excellent job . Best customer service agent I have ever spoken to, warm and engaging. It wasn’t just that she solved the problem,it was how she did it.” -Catherine Carolan
How to Choose a Personal Loan
The best way to choose the right personal loan is to shop around. Meaning, you’ll need to look at the rates and loan offers of multiple lenders.
As you look for a personal loan, consider the following:
1. Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
When picking a loan, you might be thinking about interest first. However, what you need to focus more on is the APR of a loan.
This is because the APR also includes other fees (e.g. origination fees) that you’ll need to pay to obtain a loan, aside from interest.
Hence, this enables you to better compare loan offers between lenders. In an example shown by Nerd Wallet, for instance, you borrow $5,000 and pay it back in 4 years.
One lender has an interest rate of 10%, a 3% or $150 origination fee, a monthly payment of $127, and finally, an APR of 11.6%
Another lender has an interest rate of 11%, a 2% or $100 origination fee, a monthly payment of $129, and finally, an APR of 12.1%.
While it may be hard to pick which loan rate is cheaper, based on the APR of both rates, you’ll know that the first lender offers the less expensive loan since it has the lower APR.
2. Interest
One of the things you need to know about interest is whether it’s fixed or variable.
Simply put, variable interest rates change over time. Meaning, it can go higher or lower. In reverse, fixed interest rates stay the same throughout the duration of your loan.
3. Repayment conditions
Another thing you’ll need to consider is how you’ll be paying your loan. Depending on the lender, you can choose to do so weekly, monthly, etc.
On the other hand, if you decide to pay your loan earlier than expected, the lender may require an early repayment charge.
This can happen if you make a full or partial lump-sum payment or pay more than your regular minimum payments.
The good news is, some lenders don’t charge debtors for this (as you may have seen from some of our featured choices).
Meanwhile, make sure to inquire about what’ll happen if you fail to pay your minimum payment as doing so may result in added fees.
FAQs about the Best Personal Loans in Ireland
And that concludes our discussion of the best personal loans in Ireland! We hope this article has helped you select the right loan and lender suited for your needs.
And if you know of other lenders who also offer personal loan options, please contact us. We’ll check them out ASAP!
Looking to buy your house of dreams? Perhaps our list of the best mortgage brokers in Dublin can help you!